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Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed [Hardcover]

Annabelle Gurwitch (Author), Bill Maher (Contributor), Felicity Huffman (Contributor), Bob Saget (Contributor), Robert Reich (Contributor)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)


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Book Description

February 28, 2006
If you've ever been fired, you're in good company. That's what actress and writer Annabelle Gurwitch discovered when she was fired by her idol Woody Allen ("You look retarded"). She confided her tale of woe to her friend Felicity Huffman, who made Annabelle laugh with her own stories. Annabelle realized that there was a world of people out there waiting to laugh at the experience that virtually everyone shares, and she began to collect stories of being fired from friends and colleagues. Soon she was contributing regular "Fired!" segments to Day to Day on NPR and gathering friends to appear with her in sold-out performances of Fired! in Los Angeles and New York. Fired!, her documentary film inspired by these stories, comes out in 2006.

This book is a collection of hilarious but true tales from people who've all gotten the ax, the boot, or been canned at some point in their lives. In "That's a Fact," Andy Borowitz tells the story of being fired as a writer for the television sitcom The Facts of Life after being informed that he just didn't "get" Tootie. "Take that hanger off your head, you idiot!" were the last words Jeff Garlin heard before being fired from Spec's Music store after only one day on the job, just one of the many firings he recounts in "That Garlin Boy." In "Jimmy the Idiot," Dana Gould sums up his firing from the cast of the sitcom Working that led him to become a producer of The Simpsons: "In the second episode, I was a math genius, in the third -- a motocross racer, and in the fourth episode I was replaced by a chimp, but nobody noticed." In "Poor Judgment," Illeana Douglas tells about being fired after a few hours of working as a coat check girl: "How is it possible to be fired from hanging coats? I have arms. I know what coats are. I don't come home and throw my coat on the floor. I hang it in a closet. I have experience." How did Bob Saget find out he was being phased out of his job on The Morning Program? "One day I showed up and my hosting chair was gone!"

With an all-star cast from Tim Allen to Morgan Spurlock, from Anne Meara to David Cross, and contributions from people from all over the country, this book proves it's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back.



Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gurwitch's popular Web site (www.firedbyannabellegurwitch.com) entices people to turn in their best tales of their worst firings; the cream of that crop is gathered in this star-studded collection of misery. The book is divided into chapters with titles like "The Job So Terrible You Can Only Hope to Be Fired" and "The Time You Deserved to Be Fired," but mostly it's just tales of horrible things happening to funny people. Gurwitch's own piece—in which she's canned from her role in a play written and directed by an officious Woody Allen, who told her "You look retarded"—is par for the course, with its droll humor and dash of celebrity. Comedians Bill Maher, D.L. Hughley, Bob Saget and Andy Borowitz all get in their zingers, while Illeana Douglas composes a poem that ranges from getting fired as a coat check girl ("How is it/possible to be fired hanging coats?/I have arms. I know what coats are") to high farce with borderline psychotic filmmakers. The few noncelebrities invited to share their woes are generally less funny, though they tend to be more unpredictable, such as the ex–White House chef who provides a nice recipe for seared scallops. (Mar. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Droll humor with a dash of celebrity; the cream of that crop is gathered in this star-studded collection of misery." -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Touchstone (February 28, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743289854
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743289856
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,150,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but not useful for real people, May 23, 2006
This review is from: Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed (Hardcover)
If you're a regular person who got fired from normal full-time job looking to get inspiration or find the humor from others suffering the same, this book is not for you. This book is mostly collection of anecdotes from show biz people, people who are routinely unemployed between gigs for whom getting hired and fired is a huge fact of life. So...cute stories, a good light read. There's still an opportunity out there for someone to really write this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Cleaning the Grease-Trap, December 19, 2006
By 
Bart King (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed (Hardcover)
As a teen, I was fired from my job as deep-fry cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken for failure to adequately clean out the grease-traps. I have carried this mortifying secret with me for years, and after reading FIRED!, I am emboldened to share it with the world.

As for FIRED!, I should quickly point out that virtually all of the book's 50-plus entries about being canned are by successful show-biz types. Thus, their stories are generally atypical of the workplace experience. So if you're looking for hardcore blue-collar stories, this ain't the place; the author you're looking for is Studs Terkel.

But can these show-biz types write? Surprisingly, yes, most of them can. There are a few duds in here (I don't have the heart to dis them in this review), but most entries have a smile in store for you, and some are "LOL," as we hipsters say. Of interest to me was the fact that, due to the editor's National Public Radio association, there are a number of NPR contributors herein, among whom Sandra Tsing Loh distinguishes herself nicely.

As pointed out elsewhere on this reviews page, this book's highest ambition is to be a book of amusing trifles and anecdotes, and it succeeds on its own terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a grease-trap that needs tending. (And no, I am not speaking metaphorically.)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Fun and Funny, March 6, 2006
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This review is from: Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed (Hardcover)
Nothing is worse than getting fired. (okay, some things are) But this collection of stories by people who've been pink slipped is hilarious. They were all smart enough and creative enough to turn their experiences from dross into gold. Andy Borowitz is wonderfully funny about being on the staff of the sit-com "Facts of Life". Ad agency head Joyce Beber tells about what it's like being terminated by the Queen of Mean, Leona Helmsley (3 times). Martha McCulley was axed for no apparent reason (or because she was too good!) from a major fashion magazine. How do these things happen? Writer Annabelle Gurwitch asseses the phenomenon, brings in facts, statistics, even Robert Reich to speak to the issue. It's a wonderful book. The only reason you put it down is because you're laughing too much.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I did a number of things in the '80s I'm not proud of. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Woody Allen, Jimmy Clark, Los Angeles, Bill Maher, Beta Only, Next Robin Williams, Sandra Tsing Loh, White House, Ba-Looney Tunes, Brian Unger, Comedy Central, Emmy Award-winning, Face of Hair, Janet Reno, New Year's Eve, Palm Beach, Rupert Everett, San Francisco, Sister Mary Vicious, The Ben Stiller Show, Andy Borowitz, Best Night of Their Lives, Central Park, Dick Clark
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